ds1 knows exactly what he has to do, eat breakfast, go to the toilet, wash hands, wash face, put on moisturiser, lip butter, wear his jacket, mittens, beanie, shoes, grab his bag, say goodbye then get out of the house.

ds2, every morning without fail, will be dilly dallying. He will take a look at his toy cars, insist we listen to his story about a dog swimming, walk into the study room and survey his books... Upon our urgent calls to get ready, he will walk towards us and start to sing songs, or chatter incessantly about nothing important.

When asked to go to the toilet, he will spend a long time washing his hands. When asked to put on his jacket, he will finger the material of the jacket, pretend he cannot find the arm holes, pretend he cannot find the zipper...

When asked to put on moisturiser, which he is perfectly capable of doing himself, he will sniff at it, comment how nice the mango smell is, and ask whether we can eat it. Even though he knows the answer very well.

All these drive me and Dh crazy.

He has no sense of urgency, even when we are running late and about to miss the bus.

I am certain my blood pressure increases dangerously each morning because of his couldn't-care-less attitude. Are all the youngest ones in the family like that?

As I am placing their snack boxes into their bags, I have to keep shouting at him. I have to dash around like a madwoman making sure he is on task. If we're really really late, I have to slather on moisturiser and lip butter on his face in a hurry such that he sometimes goes to school with blotches still on his cheeks.

The part that drives Dh mad? He and ds1 will already be outside the gate, on the scooter, waiting for ds2 to finally step out of the gate. But ds2, who is all geared up, will stand in the front porch, checking out the satellite dish, seemingly deaf to the honks of the scooter. Dh will even be shouting from outside.

I'll be shouting from the door, screaming at him to hurry up and move his feet out of the gate. He'll then talk to me in the most lazy manner, "Mommy, will Isaiah be in school today? Is Ms M going to make waffles? Will you pick me up at the bus stop? Will we go shopping today? Are we going to do the nosey nosey?" Sometimes he even does a little dance and song before finally moving out.

Argh! Usually I am still in my sleep clothes, so I don't rush out to manhandle him because I risk being caught sight of by neighbours and risk catching a death of a cold.

This particular morning, ds2 said "Mommy, you are going to wash the broccoli and cook the spinach now right? Then you will pick me up at the bus stop. That's your job!"

Then he slowly hopped like a bunny, out of the gate.

No idea why he says these things out of the blue and no idea why he is soooo irritating in the morning. Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow ____________________________________________________________